Thanks so much for 19k, everyone!!! And I'm so sorry for the long wait!

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Izuku didn't know what to say. He was surprised with Aizawa's announcement of the UA Sports Festival, despite the villain attack that happened only weeks ago. Everyone was pumped up and excited, Izuku as well, of course, but he couldn't help being nervous.

What surprised him even more, however, was the crowd around their classroom doors.

"What's going on?!" Uraraka shouted as she jumped back in shock.

"Woah! It's like a sea out there!" Jirou exclaimed.

Izuku looked around and realized that they were all first years in mostly different courses.

"Why are they here?" Hagakure asked.

Bakugou scoffed as he walked towards the crowd. "Tch. They're scoping out the competition, duh. We're the guys that survived a villain attack, remember? 'Course they'd wanna look before the Sports Festival."

He scanned the crowd with a bored look on his face. "No point though. Move aside, extras!"

Iida pointed at him. "Please do not resort to calling our fellow classmates extras!"

There was some murmuring in the crowd and a few moments later, a head of purple hair pushed through. The guy rubbed the back of his neck as he stared down Class 1-A.

"You're right. We came here to get a look, but you sure are modest. Are all the kids in the hero course like you?"

Izuku perked up. He recognized that voice.

"Gotta say, I'm a little disappointed if that's the case. Those of us who didn't make it into the hero course were dumped into the General Education Course and other tracks. There's a lot of us, you know?"

Izuku focused on his face. He had the same purple hair and tired, narrow eyes as the last time he saw him. All he was missing was the calm face and soft smile from before when Izuku met him at the park with Yoru. His gaze was stern, almost a glare, as he looked straight at Bakugou. He hadn't even noticed that the freckled boy was there at all.

"Depending on the results of the Sports Festival, they'll consider transferring us into the Hero Course. This also means a reverse may be possible, and for a General Education student like me, this will be the perfect opportunity to knock you off your pedestals." He smirked at them. "Consider this a declaration of war."

Izuku's hand twitched slightly. To him, the guy was a totally different person compared to his cat-loving self Izuku had seen before.

As the purple haired student's eyes looked over the crowd, they stopped as they landed on a bed of fluffy green hair. Both of them stared at each other with wide eyes.

"Wai-"

Before he could finish his sentence, someone popped up from the crowd and started shouting.

"Hey!" The boy with silver hair exclaimed. "I'm from Class 1-B next door! I heard you guys fought some villains and I wanted to find out more, but all I'm seein' is this arrogant bastard! You better not mess up the Sports Festival for us!"

After that, he disappeared back into the horde of people surrounding the classroom. Bakugou started pushing his way through the crowd, earning glares and insults.

"Yo! Bakugou! What are you doing?!" Kirishima shouted. "Thanks to you, we've got a whole bunch of haters!"

Bakugou ignored him and kept pushing through the crowd. "I don't give a damn. I'm heading for the top. Why should I care?"

Kirishima started shaking, manly tears leaking from his eyes. "Tch! So straightforward and manly!"

"Hmm, the top..." Tokoyami muttered. "He's not wrong, I suppose."

"Hey! Don't let him win you over! All he's doing is winning us enemies!" Kaminari shouted.

Izuku watched as Bakugou broke through the crowd and left down the hallway with a thoughtful face.

"I'm gonna beat you all!"

Those were the words he said to him at that time. When Bakugou lost to Izuku during their first Battle Training activity and lost, he beat himself up about it until he finally got his head on straight. He came out of that more determined than Izuku had ever seen him before. Bakugou was growing and learning right in front of his eyes.

Suddenly, the words All Might had said to him earlier that day came to mind.

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"Young Izuku, I wanted to talk to you about the Sports Festival. You still can't regulate One For All, can you? What will we do?" All Might asked.

Izuku set his cup down the free his hands. 'Earlier when I attacked that villain...' He looked down at his hand as he signed. 'My arm didn't break. I don't know why...'

"Ah, right! You did mention that! So what was different about what you did?"

'Well... it was the first time... I used the power against someone else...' Izuku told him.

All Might nodded as he sipped his tea. "Hm. It sounds like you managed to pump the brakes on your own without knowing it. In any case, that's progress. I'm glad to hear it, because in all honesty, the time I've got left as the Symbol of Peace is running out quickly. Some of the villains out there are starting to realize it, too." All Might gazed into Izuku's eyes. "I gave you my power so you could succeed me. So you could be the next Symbol of Peace!"

His look became determined. "The UA Sports Festival is an event the whole country will be watching! During that time, you, Young Midoriya, I need you to tell the world,"

"I AM HERE!"

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Uraraka shook Izuku out of his daze.

"Come on, Deku! The crowd is leaving! We can get through now!" She said.

"Yes," Iida said beside her, pushing up his glasses. "We should get going now."

Izuku nodded and Uraraka dragged him through what was left of the students. On the way, he met eye contact with the purple haired cat-lover. His eyes were narrowed questioningly. As quick as he could, Izuku signed 'Meet at the park again?' He got a nodded in response and the bed of purple hair disappeared into down the hall.

Izuku scratched the back of his head as he followed Uraraka and Iida toward the front of the school. They made idle chatter as the mute boy let out a soundless sigh.

He had quite a bit on his shoulders.

I've been losing motivation for this story, but hopefully this chapter will give me a bit of a kick start... Keep bugging me for an update and it might come soon :P